Every four years Germany’s national horticultural show, the Bundesgartenschau, is used to renovate a city in desperate need of transformation. Infrastructure and parks created for the show are used as seeding elements in the formation of new neighbourhoods once the show is over.

The area chosen for the show in the north of Potsdam city centre is bland, characterless and without identity. Creating an inspiring environment requires a leap of faith to imagine an attractive future world that can sustain living, working and playing.

Our design took a ‘pop art’ approach to the design and layout of nine new parks, established for the BUGA but retained as a mean to re-brand the site and surrounding neighbourhood. Each park had a central theme - rural, urban, wild, manufactured, intensive use, extensive use and parking – enlivened with eye-catching objects, memorable experiences, spectacular sites and innovative environments.

Corridors linking these parks would encourage plants and animals to spread through the entire district. We paid a great deal of attention to ideas for the nature, public parks and gardens in the district. A new tramline reconnected the district to the city centre.

Every four years Germany’s national horticultural show, the Bundesgartenschau, is used to renovate a city in desperate need of transformation. Infrastructure and parks created for the show are used as seeding elements in the formation of new neighbourhoods once the show is over.

The area chosen for the show in the north of Potsdam city centre is bland, characterless and without identity. Creating an inspiring environment requires a leap of faith to imagine an attractive future world that can sustain living, working and playing.

Our design took a ‘pop art’ approach to the design and layout of nine new parks, established for the BUGA but retained as a mean to re-brand the site and surrounding neighbourhood. Each park had a central theme - rural, urban, wild, manufactured, intensive use, extensive use and parking – enlivened with eye-catching objects, memorable experiences, spectacular sites and innovative environments.

Corridors linking these parks would encourage plants and animals to spread through the entire district. We paid a great deal of attention to ideas for the nature, public parks and gardens in the district. A new tramline reconnected the district to the city centre.